On my desk: The Manchurian President

posted at 10:27 am on May 1, 2010 by Ed Morrissey

My friend Aaron Klein, now a WABC radio host who has done some amazing work in probing Islamist terrorism in the Middle East, and Brenda Elliott have turned their attention to domestic politics and Barack Obama in his latest book, The Manchurian President: Barack Obama’s Ties to Communists, Socialists and Other Anti-American Extremists. The book, which comes out this week, promises an explosive look at Obama’s relationship to radicals; Klein’s original reporting on Van Jones helped expose the ties the “green jobs czar” had to radical leftists and pushed Jones into eventually resigning his post. Aaron gives Hot Air readers an exclusive preview of one of the connections he reports in the new book:

In just one of the revelations in this politically radioactive release, the book uncovers for the first time where and how Obama first met Weatherman founder Bill Ayers – and it is much earlier than previously believed.

In his 1995 autobiography, Dreams From My Father, Obama writes about a speech given during his college years in connection with Students for Economic Democracy. SED was a campus group affiliated with Tom Hayden, one of the principal organizers of Students for a Democratic Society, the 1960s antiwar movement from which Ayers’ Weatherman splintered.

The book ties Obama to a number of other radicals who were associated with SED’s parent group, whose founding members included fellow antiwar protesters, a politician known to be a communist collaborator, and a founding member of the Black Panthers.

Until now, little has been revealed about Obama’s college years, with the president refusing to release his transcript or comment in depth about which specific individuals or organizations he was associated with,

The Manchurian President also reveals Obama’s associations with the Nation of Islam, Black Liberation Theology and black political extremists, with extensive new information on the subjects.

Also detailed are Obama’s deep ties to ACORN, which are much more extensive than previously documented elsewhere. The book additionally describes how a socialist-led, ACORN-affiliated union helped facilitate Obama’s political career and now exerts major influence in the White House.

The Manchurian President contains potentially explosive information not only about President Obama but also concerning other officials in the White House, including top czars and senior advisers Valerie Jarrett and David Axelrod.

I just received my copy of the book and will try to complete reading it before Aaron appears on The Ed Morrissey Show this week to discuss the book. The book follows the efforts of David Freddoso’s The Case Against Barack Obama (reviewed here) and Jerome Corsi’s Obama Nation. Both of those books shed light on Obama’s past political associations and efforts, but didn’t get as much traction as they deserved, thanks to a wave of popular support for Obama.

The effort by Klein and Elliott, coming as it does after fifteen months of disillusioning reality about Obama’s hard-Left agenda, may have more success — and both of the other books may start getting more attention as well. There is another argument to be made, too, which is that the past matters less now than the present. The reality of Obama’s performance will make a more compelling argument in 2012 than the hidden realities of his previous connections. However, if this book delivers on his promise, it will provide more context for the present and help voters connect a few more dots in 2012 than they did in 2008. In any case, as with all of Aaron’s work, it will make great conversation when we chat this coming Wednesday at 4 pm ET on TEMS!

Update: I inexcusably overlooked the fact that Brenda Elliott coauthored the book with Aaron; I’ve updated the post above, and offer my apologies to Ms. Elliott.

Update II: Tom Maguire has more information on the Ayers/Obama relationship.

Update III: The interview is on Wednesday, not Tuesday. I’ve made the correction above.

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